


Can't do it alone (I need you right here with me)

by SatiricalFaith



Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Category: L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: Broken Bones, Crying, Earthquakes, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatiricalFaith/pseuds/SatiricalFaith
Summary: Trapped under the rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake, Jasper faces the impossible task of keeping Annabelle alive and calm.Whumptober Day 4, Running out of Time: Caged/Buried Alive/Collapsed Building
Relationships: Annabelle & Jasper Heartwood
Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954864
Kudos: 8





	Can't do it alone (I need you right here with me)

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for; graphic description of major injury, earthquake, references to death, jasper's usual self-loathing, crying, and as always blood. 
> 
> Title from White Blood by Oh Wonder
> 
> This one is at least a tad less messy, but as usual, I absolutely butcher torpor and injury mechanics and honestly World Of Darkness lore as a whole really.

Jasper's head was pressed against a piece of concrete just above him. He breathed unneeded breaths his arms trembled where he'd tried to lift the slab in his grasp. "It hurts." He closed his eyes flinching at how small and raspy the voice bellow him was. The gurgle in her throat and the smell of Vitae getting stronger had him clenching his palms against unyielding stone. "I know, I know I'm getting you out just, just wait." He tried to lift again, but the cut off scream made him stop. 

"You have to stay still if you don't the whole thing will come down on top of you." He looked just bellow him. Red vitae was spilled around Annabelle, his beast was roaring for it. 'She's good as dead, another aftershock and one of those slabs will crush her head like a melon. If she's lucky she'll end up in torpor first. Either way, it'd be mercy, drain her dry.' It demanded and he growled against it. She was crying pushing uselessly with her one free hand against the stone currently crushing her body. From her torso down he could only see peaks of her body, large slabs had fallen along her, and wooden debris on top of that. He could just barely spot where one of her legs had been impaled onto a piece of metal. He didn't know if the fact she wasn't in torpor was a blessing or curse. He knew most of the bones in her lower half were probably broken, the smell of blood and hints of marrow in the air was clue enough.  
"Jasper, please stop." She croaked out, fear and pain cracking her vocal cords. It had him growling at his own uselessness. "If it moves again...there's only so much even our bodies can take Annabelle," Jasper growled out. "I know! I know, but.." He snarled low again, frustrated at the situation. He knew what she meant..there was no way he could get her out on his own. As if the earth it's self heard them another tremor began. A piece of concrete fell behind him and he lunged falling to his knees over her, trying and protect her head as the pile shifted and she screamed in distress. Miraculously it only moved by inches, enough to be incredibly painful, and further destabilized the pile but it didn't topple and crush her completely. As the tremor settled he saw Annabelle was blindly trying to free herself, unaware due to the sheer agony.

"Annabelle, Annebelle stop you'll make it come down completely." She didn't hear his flat but commanding tone. He put his hands on both sides of her head, making glazed vision focus on him. "Stop. Focus. Don't breathe, don't move...just focus, calm." His touch seemed to help ground her. As she settled his calculating eyes trailed over the debris around them. "Sorry." She croaked out when she got control of herself. He laughed, baring fangs in a startled smile. "Not your fault." She nodded slowly. "You good now?" She shook her head. "Beast is panicking too?" He asked seeing how she kept instinctively baring her fangs. A slight hum of confirmation had him sigh. He eyed the rubble on top of her again calculating if what he was about to do would cause it to fall. 

When he was sure it wouldn't, he shifted standing up for a moment, shushing her panicked sounds. As gently as he could he lowered himself to sit in front of her, and put her head into his lap "Victor and his crew are coming to get us, the sun can't hit us here, you'll be okay." Annabelle shook her head Vitae tears streaming down her face. "It'll crush me."  
He could see her starting to get worked up again. "Shhh, shhh, no, no you're fine, you're fine." Her whimpers broke something he thought long dead.  
A hesitant hand lingered above her head for a moment before sharp broken nails ran through her hair. He started smoothing debris and dust from her undercut. To his wonderment and relife, she began to relax, melting into the affection despite her discomfort. It had always left him bewildered, how open and tactile a creature she was. Even now when her instincts must be screaming to lash out, something even deeper took comfort in a monster like him. Another weaker barley noticeable aftershock began, and Jasper hunched over her, pressed his forehead to hers, and shushed her panicked whimpers, praying to gods he did not believe in as she cried out. It was only seconds but finally the rumbling stopped and the rubble settled.

When the broken concrete slabs on top of her didn't crumple any further, and she wasn't crushed completely, he let out a soft sigh. He looked down at her body and suppressed a wince. The smallest but by no means light slab had shifted further up, covering most of her upper torso. It didn't appear to have crushed anything new, but the smell told him it aggravated existing injuries.  
When he looked back to her face, he could see her eyes fluttering. If she were mortal he'd say she was about to pass out. He'd be fighting to keep her awake, to not let adrenaline fade or for the shock to claim her. Luckily she wasn't, he vaguely recognized the signs of a Kindred slipping into torpor due to injury and loss of Vitae. It would be far kinder if she did, and even safer as she'd be less prone to frenzy or panic and topple the unsteady structure. He could see the panic though, unwilling torpor as slow as it was occurring for her, was probably terrifying. He'd heard it compared to drowning.  
"Hey, hey, look at me." He muttered soft as a mouth full of fangs would allow. His free hand was still stroking the soft short hairs of her undercut, while the other cupped her cheek to guide her to look at him. "You're going into torpor, it's okay, you'll be okay. It's like sleep, just a bit heavier. No more pain, we'll get you out of here, and wake you right back up. You're not dying. Not really, you won't be any more dead than you already were." He was rambling the information, trying to keep his graveled tone soothing something he was unfamiliar with. It seemed to be working, her eyes opening less and less.  
"Don't leave." She croaked out. "I won't, I promise" He hated Carver at that moment, more than ever. Because he'd left her to this fate, because he'd made it possible for her to be there, hurt, in pain, begging promises he would never have given genuinely before. Because the Brujah had given him a sister he never asked for. "Keep talking, please." Annabelle's quiet request came. He swallowed and did as he was told. 

"You... you and Eva, you've made me into the worse Nosferto, giving promises away without a price. You know she told me you were the one with the movie night idea, do you know what kind of terrible movies came out of the 60s..." He rambled until her eyes didn't open until that unnatural stillness settled over her, and he was left with the corpse they were all supposed to be. He looked at the hole that leads to the floor above them and just sat. Taking a breath as he could feel the tug of the day sleep, dawn was approaching, but there he stayed. He turned sideways to lean against a nearby piece of concrete keeping Annebelle's head in her lap. He cautiously, as if he was doing something taboo, laced his fingers with her free hand and closed his eyes, waiting for help to come hoping it would before the rest of the building came down on both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> As always I do my best to proofread but I don't have a beta. Or a working brain most days. Please be kind.


End file.
